A FINE IRISH MEAL

Dear Fans of the Stella; Sorry, got a bit distracted. Went to the corner Irish bar to order a bottle of their best Irish Whiskey they carry (McRotgut sells for $1.99 gallon) and ran into a pack of little men and started drinking with them. They claimed to be Leprechauns but I never did see a pot of gold and I do believe that they may be actually be Snow White's cast offs because one of them was really Dopey. And watch out if you drink Irish coffee! The coffee wires you up while the whiskey brings you down and the whipped cream gives you a rush, your poor body doesn't know what to do and mine did it all.

I have a recipe that I make every year on St. Patty's Day and at least one other time during the year. The meat takes about three hours to cook while the vegetables only need about 45 minutes or so which give you plenty of time to get the raw vegetables ready at your leisure.

Shopping: 1 corned beef brisket 3-5 pounds, 1 quart of beer, 1 shot of whiskey (tenders the roast even more), 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds, 3 tablespoons of Italian seasoning, 3 large bay leaves, 1 large sweet red onion sliced, 8 carrots skinned but left whole, 1 stalk of celery, 1 very large head of cabbage, 8-10 medium red potatoes.

In a lobster type pot, put the roast in the pot and cover with the whiskey and beer and add all seasonings and bring to a hard boil for 5 minutes uncovered then turn down to simmer. Add the onion to the pot. Cut the butt (or bottom if you prefer) of the celery off, cut into 4 pieces and rinse and add to the pot along with all of the leaves off of the stalk (what else are you going to use them for?) Now get lost for 2 hours. When you come back, rinse the potatoes and cut out any big eyes or bad spots, trim off about 8 more large trimmed pieces of celery and add all of these to the pot and re-cover the pot. Peel the outside leaves off the cabbage and cut into 8 wedges and add to the top of the pot. If your liquid has boiled down you can add water or more beer. The alcohol all cooks off so not to worry about serving to children or people in AA. (Lots of people don't consider it a meal if there is no bread, I make Jiffy cornbread with an extra tablespoon of sugar per box or you could make biscuits or just bread and butter.)
Dig to the bottom of the pot and pull the roast out and re-cover the veggies. Let the meat cool down for about 15 minutes and then slice thin slices and then serve the meal on plates or deep bowls with mustard on the side or right on the beef and cabbage. The meal will be colorful and delicious and leftover meat can be used for sandwiches (if there is any). Next day, cut up any leftover veggies and add a can of corned beef and make it soup. Waste not.
Stella